Explore the sea on the Seasub Cousteau or the sky in Starship Sagan using this interactive site. Offerings include in-depth information, photos, links, and vehicle explorations about each of the two realms. Detailed descriptions of sea life forms as well as a virtual tour of the solar system accompany startling photos and accurate data. An additional feature provides links to the latest news about astronomy, space science, NASA, oceanography, marine biology, and coral reefs. Topics range from dark matter to deep sea creatures.This site requires FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Explore your curriculum topics of oceans or space on a projector or interactive whiteboard, then assign students to specialize in their own subtopics as they explore on laptops or in a lab with a partner. Weak readers in lower grades will need help wth some portions of the longer text passages. Share this link on your teacher web page as students work both in and out of class to create a presentation, booklet, or other product from their research.

This great reference resource is an attractively packaged compilation of ways to get answers to questions about science. Offerings include a place to ask questions from K-college, access to a search engine, a list of FAQ's on common topics, a library with links to other relevant sites, a knowledge generator, an archive of lab experiments, and other assistance with science fair projects. The Mad-Sci labs also has a "Guided Tour of the Visible Human" section on human anatomy, with many images of cross-sections and internal organs.

In the Classroom

Navigate the human body and label parts on an interactive whiteboard, or find the appropriate experiments for all your science concepts. By searching the question archives, you can find answers to questions at all levels. Be sure to include this link on your teacher web page year-round to promote curiosity about science. Teachers of gifted will love this one as a treasury of open-ended ideas on science by scientists.

This online tool lets you create(or "share" someone else's existing) online calculations/spreadsheets. You can also display instant graphs of the spreadsheet contents. The spreadsheets are displayed in terms that ordinary people can understand and allow you to "plug in" numbers to see instant results. Some of the shared calculators already online are surface area and volume of geometric solids, interest calculators, body mass index, and more sophisticated business functions. The best way to see how the site works is to read through their "tour" then click to browse through the examples, especially the shared ones. Even if you never create your own, this tool is great!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Visit the site and observe how the shared examples work. If you find one you like, you can get the link (try the little disk icon) to go directly to it. If you are feeling more adventurous, try creating one of your own, perhaps for calculating the class average on a test. Your web-savvy students will love this tool for collaborative lab reports or graphs of statistics. For safety's sake do not use any student names or information if you share calcs online.

This oddly humorous website is all about the Octopus (cephalopods). There are articles about the octopus and other ocean animals, forums, features, videos and games. There is even an "octopodcast"! Some of the activities are more "fun" than "educational." But if you navigate through the website, you will find some great information and activities. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

This website does provide some informative and humorous videos and games, be sure to view them prior to sharing them with your class. Some of the videos are not appropriate for younger audiences. The image galleries can provide some "real" examples of cephalopods for your budding marine biologists. Project them on an interactive whiteboard for students to label the parts!

Grab your winter coats, and let's head to Antarctica. This website is phenomenal and truly has a wonderful variety of information for students. This website provides information about Antarctica, video clips, lesson plan ideas, maps, news and much, much more. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

This website has resources for all grade levels. If your class is learning about Antarctica - check out the lesson plans at this website. Or better yet, get an interactive whiteboard and share the unique video clips or pictures from the Arctic photo gallery with your class.

This site provides basic information about food chains. Included are examples of food chains in different environments. An interactive section allows students to create a food chain.

In the Classroom

Share this site on a projector or interactive whiteboard before allowing students to use it individually or with a partner to create and print their own food chain. You will want to tell students to steer clear of the "Ads by Google" links.

This site has separate sections of information on bioscapes and wildlife. Each article in the wildlife section describes the animal, its habits, habitat, and threats to survival. A curriculum section offers classroom ideas and resources, including lesson plans shared by teachers. Some sections of the site are also available in Spanish and Portuguese.

This attractive, interactive site offers information to teens about the effects of drinking alcohol and peer pressure. Topics included range from a quiz on alcohol, information on how much alcohol is in a typical drink, and suggestions on how to resist alcohol use and peer more. A list of characteristics of the effects of too much drinking will help teens measure the effects of alcohol among their friends. Typical teen questions include "Dear Ashley" columns for each covered topic.
This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Use this site as an anticipatory set or "activator" to introduce a unit or lesson on the dangers of drinking. Share this link on your teacher web page and/or in a parent newsletter for those who are dealing with this challenge.

Teachers can also use this site during your drug unit or Red Ribbon Week as background information for students or student groups to make antidrug "radio" ads using Podomatic, reviewed here.

MSTE stands for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education. This is a fabulous website that provides a wealth of interactive activities and printable lessons to use in your classes. There are numerous math and science topics (including chemistry, measurement, probability, geometry, data analysis, physics, algebra and much, much more). Some parts of this site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.. Many of the interactives use Java Applets. These will run on most computers without additional software.

In the Classroom

Many of these activities would work well with an interactive whiteboard. Read the desciptions of the interactives to see the specific curriculum topics. Many have step-by step lessons included. There is truly something for everyone.